The best sledges have their runners made of the jaw-bones of the whale; the upper part consisting of bones, pieces of wood, or deer horns lashed across. Sledge-runners are sometimes made of frozen walrus skin. By an ingenious contrivance they are also formed out of seal-skin. Cases of this skin are filled with earth and moss, a little water is added, and the whole soon becomes frozen into a solid piece. The length of a bone sledge is from four to fourteen feet, and the breadth about twenty inches.
最好的雪橇上一定有鲸鱼的下颌骨制成的滑行装置，由骨头、木片或鹿角组成的上面部分被捆绑在一起。有时，雪橇的滑轨是由冰冻了的海象皮制成的。通过一个巧妙办法，海豹皮也可以制成滑轨。用这种皮做成的小箱子里面填满了土和苔藓，再加上一点水后，很快就被凝结成一个块状实体。骨质的雪橇长度在4~14英尺，宽度约20英尺。
Scarcely any coasts in the world teem more abundantly with animal life than the sterile and ice-bound shores of the Arctic regions. From Greenland westward, along the northern coasts of America. thousands of bears, seals, walruses, foxes, dogs, and other Arctic mammals, and millions of gulls, geese, auks, and other far-flying aquatic birds, are continually passing to and fro, some through the air, and others upon vast fields of ice, either fixed or moving.
世界上几乎没有任何一个海岸像北极地区的海岸一样，蕴含着如此丰富的动物种类。从格陵兰岛西部开始，一直到美国的北部沿岸，来回穿行着成千上万的熊、海豹、海象、狐狸、狗和其他北极哺乳动物，以及数以百万计的海鸥、鹅、海雀和其他能够远程飞行的水鸟，有些从空中掠过，有些则在辽阔的冰面上穿行，或停或行。
The animals found in these frozen regions have a double interest to the voyager; for besides supplying him with nourishing food, they interrupt the intense solitude of that vast and silent land. Vegetable life grows more scant and stunted as he advances north; but animal life is larger and more abundant in development, although seen in less variety. The Arctic animals show less beauty of colouring than those of warmer climates; white and different shades of brown principally supplying the place of the more brilliant tints.
这些生长在冰冻地区的动物们，对航行有着双重的兴趣；因为除了寻找可提供的营养丰富的食物之外，他们还打破了这片广阔无垠的陆地的寂静，终结了强烈地孤独感。越往北走，植物越稀少，而且越发矮小且发育不良；尽管只能看到少数几种动物，可是能看到的动物个头越大、数量越多。北极的动物比温带地区的颜色单调；白色和深浅不一的棕色是主色调，替代了明亮地色彩。
There is nothing more wonderful than the adaptation of the clothing of creatures to their natural condition. In warm latitudes the quadrupeds have thin and short hair, but those of the polar regions are supplied with the thickest furs. The aquatic birds, also, are protected by a coat of oily feathers, so that they can plunge securely into the icy waters.
自然界的生灵们的着装都适应于自然环境，没有什么比这种天然适应更令人惊奇的了。在温带地区，四足动物的毛发又细又短，但是寒带地区的四足动物则长着浓厚的毛发。连水鸟也有一层油性的羽毛，以便他们可以安全的跳进冰冷的水中。
Almost all Arctic animals are beasts and birds of prey; and they derive their sustenance mainly from the sea, the land furnishing very scanty means of supporting life.
几乎所有的北极动物都是兽类和食肉鸟；他们赖以为生的食物都来自大海，陆地上能为其提供生计的资源极其匮乏。
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